There are ways to make your home stand out — paint the shutters, replace the door. Or, as Martin Castillo did, you can commission a two-story mural that covers the side of your house.
A massive piece of art has been on the home at 3932 W. 59th St. for about 13 years, after the idea came to Castillo in the middle of the night.
The mural has two sides — one representing life in the United States, the other representing life in Mexico, where Castillo is from.
“In Mexico, people used to take a long time for lunch; they take a nap, a siesta,” Castillo, 53, says. “And, over here in the U.S., there’s no time. Everything is hurried.”
That difference in lifestyle comes out in the details of the painting, which Castillo commissioned an artist to paint.
In the top left of the piece, gears turn, representing the “engine” of the United States. The machine churns out a huge pile of cash. And there are well-dressed businessmen.
“They got a phone in one hand and a cheeseburger in the other hand,” Castillo says.
From the pile of cash, the mountains of Mexico come into view. Two women create homemade tortillas while a rancher observes his crops. Lush greenery and brown soil make up the scene, set under a bright blue sky with the Virgin Mary watching from above.
Castillo came to the United States in 1988 and started working as a tortilla-maker for $3.50 an hour. From there, he says he began driving a big rig between New York and Chicago. Now, he runs his own business selling chicharrón products.
“I’ve been very proud to be born in Mexico, but I’m very proud to live over here in the U.S.,” Castillo says.
Liliana Cabrera, Castillo’s niece, says the mural represents her uncle’s journey from Mexico to the United States and reminds her that happiness can be found in both places.
“In the U.S., it is the money-making, and maybe it is a busy life, but it’s a beautiful life regardless,” Cabrera, 27, says. “And, in Mexico, you don’t have all the materialistic things all the time. But you have your culture and love for your family, and I feel like that makes it whole.
“I’m sure many first generation Mexican Americans can agree that it’s the best of both worlds for us.”
Cabrera, born in Chicago, remembers growing up with the mural and other works of art representing Mexico. She says that always made the country feel like another home.
“My family has always incorporated in all of us the importance of the Mexican culture, and I’ll always be thankful for that,” Cabrera says.
The mural provides a sense of “nostalgia” for Castillo’s family — all 11 brothers and sisters, his 86-year-old mother and all of his nieces and nephews.
“We can’t have a small cookout,” Cabrera says of their big family. “Most of the summer, we spend here all together.”
“My neighbors told me, ‘You have a party every week.’ I said, ‘I don’t have a party,’” Castillo says. “They just come to eat.”
Of the house mural, Cabrera says, “It’s definitely part of our childhood and still is. That mural means a lot to all of us.”
